Jeep Ride in the Desert

We drove an hour east of here to meet up with my sister who was motor home camping in the high desert. Yes, it does get cold in the desert. We spent about four hours with them. My sister and I stayed in the warm motor home making soup while the girls rode off with their Uncle Skip in the Desert. Skip will send me picture later, which I will add to this sight. In the meanwhile, I will post what I have; one of my sister with her dog Sasha and the other of the girls and their uncle ready to take on the hills. Don't let the short sleeves my sister is wearing deceive you because an hour later, we were bundled up in warm clothes.

Candy Cane Lane

I can't believe I forgot to post this. This should be posted before Christmas and after decorating the house. Oh well. We went with our friends to a street otherwise known as Candy Cane Lane. It is fun to walk through because most of the houses are decorated with light like the one in the picture. It took us about an hour and then we went to Starbucks to warm up with hot cocoa.

Cat examining the tree!

Alley is curious to see what is under the tree. She was fascinated by the tree the day we got it!

Christmas Day at the Carroll's House

Christmas day at Craig's aunts house was a lot of fun. We ate breakfast and opened gifts. Then we played with Emily's singing game for playstation. It was a blast because we could compete against each other and all take turns making fools out of ourselves. Abby enjoyed playing on her waveboard. We even ran into to friends froom Palm Desert, the Cordova's, whose family only lived a couple doors down. Afterwards, we went to Craig's mothers house for Christmas dinner. We enjoyed the intamacy and unfortunately had to leave to return back to the desert so Craig could go back to work. It was a very nice Christmas.

Christmas Eve Stockings

We did something new this year. The girls got to open their stockings. They are old enough to know who really brings them anyhow. Besides, it was Christmas Eve and we needed to watch a movie, which was in one of the stockings.

Christmas Eve

Christmas was fun! We traveled to Orange County, where Craig's family lives. We drove to "Grammie's" house where we had a nice Christmas Eve dinner. Because Craig was not able to get off work until noon, we weren't able to leave in time to make it to the Christmas Eve service. When the girls arrived, they started decorating cookies with frosting. Grammie worked on making dinner. We decided that the cookie made was the favorite. I'm not sure who was the lucky person who got to eat it, but it wasn't me. I think Craig called dibs on this beautiful master piece.

Dad and Santa's Helper

My dad sent this picture that is just too cute. Sasha, my sister's dog is cuddled up with my dad, who "dog sits" for my sister during the day and when they leave for vacation times.

Decorating for Christmas

The Ostendorf family went out and found a blue spruce from Eastern Oregon at a vacant lot on Washington Blvd that was turned into a Christmas tree lot. THe man we bought it from reminded me of the loggers who used to come into the Forest Service when I worked for them in my younger years. The tree was much better than the dried out one from Home Depot the year before. We brought it home and set up it. Then the girls decorated it. It's nice to be at the stage in our life where the girls can do most of the work. My job was to get the lights on and the girls did all of the decorating. It was fun for them to find ornaments that they made from earlier years. They would squeal with glee as they remember when...

QOTSA

Well, I finally got the opportunity to see my cousin, Josh, in concert, at the McCallum. I felt like a Queens of the Stone Age groupie as I was surrounded by fans, only 5 rows from the stage. Although, compared to some of the fans, I was definitely out of my element. Craig accompanied me to the event. Even though I had not previously heard of the band who opened for QOTSA, Eagle's of Death Metal, I recognized some of the band members whom I met at Josh's wedding. I appreciated the band more than if I had not met them before. The high of the night for me was having the opportunity to take my uncle's back stage pass and go back to say Hi. I felt really important as I knocked on the special door leading back stage. I showed the guard my badge and I was in. It was cool. I said hi to Josh, wished him luck and got the opportunity to meet his keyboard player, which was cool being a keyboard player myself. I did take Josh's advice and wore earplugs. It was an event to remember.

Volleyball at Christian School of the Desert

Abby is serving for her team at Christian School of the Desert. This is her third year at playing volleyball. In the off season, Abby played Club and has started her second year at playing club where she made the "Elite" team. Her first tournament is January 12. Emily has also started playing club volleyball, but is not on a team that travels. Emily is busy learning how to play the piano, which is plenty for her.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving at the Ostendorf's house was small, but cozy this year. My mom came down from Oregon to be with us. My aunt and uncle also joined the scene. My mom, the girls and I enjoyed preparing the dinner, while Craig was at work. When he came home, we had a nice spread of Turkey, mashed potatoes, yams, salad, green beans and pumpkin pie. In the above pictures, Emily was snapping peas, mom was making stuffing and Abby was trying on Nana's apron.